The Game
by murrayAteam
Summary: Steve has a one night stand with a woman he met at the bar. She is kidnapped because of her relation to him and subsequently tortured. Steve is sent taunting photo's with no information other than what will come next. Will he able to save her? Or will she become one of the many unsaved?
1. Chapter 1

The rock music was loud and intense, and Camilla could feel it reverberating in her bones. Sweat tickled its way between her breasts and beaded in the grooves of her lower back. She shot another whiskey and chased it with some crisp beer and hailed the bartender; she was ready for another.

Steve entered the bar and made a beeline for the nearest bartender. He had just finished wrapping up a child serial killer case and was in need of a little unwinding – okay, a lot of unwinding. He wanted to forget the events of the past week, and trying to drink the memories away seemed like a good place to start. "I'll have a beer," Steve said, and the bartender was back in a flash with the bottle. Steve handed him a note, "Keep the change,"

"Thanks, Brah."

Camilla took another shot. After spending four years in an abusive relationship, she had finally ended it. She was happy and simultaneously terrified. On the one hand, she was free, but on the other, she wasn't sure she knew how to live without Liam any more. She'd been with him since senior year in high school and all throughout college. At first he had been the perfect boyfriend; he had taken her out on glamorous dates; showered her in flowers; and told her that he loved her. The first time he had hit her he was instantly remorseful, and she told herself that it wouldn't happen again. Things escalated to the point that he had broken her arm by twisting it too far in the wrong direction during an argument. When they asked her at the hospital if she had been abused, she'd denied it. The last straw was when he pushed her down the stairs one night. He had come to her apartment drunk and she'd rejected him. He had flown into a fit of rage and shoved her from the top of the stairs, and she broken her leg and two ribs in the process. After that, a restraining order was filed and she hoped she'd never see him again.

"Hi Sexy, want to dance?" a guy asked as he wrapped his arm around Camilla's waist and squeezed. "No thanks." She replied, and tried to pry his arm from around her.

"Come on," he teased, "you know you want to." He started to pull her from the chair. A sliver of fear pricked in her chest. "No, leave me alone."

"Come on," he repeated firmly.

"The lady said she doesn't want to dance," Said Steve, who had approached the quickly escalating scene, "Why don't you leave now?"

The man didn't release her, but turned his attention to Steve. "What you going to do about it Haole?"

There was only a moment's pause before Steve responded by smashing his fist into the man's face and the man promptly fell like a stone.

"I don't condone fighting in my bar!" Yelled the bartender after having kicked both Camilla and Steve out on to the street.

"I still can't believe how hard that guy fell!" Said Camilla, with a great big smile on her face. No one had ever stood up for her like that. She pressed her hands to her head and scrunched her hair, looking up at the sky in exhilaration. The bangles on her wrists clanked.

"It was nothing," Steve replied modestly, but couldn't help smiling at this beautiful woman. She was small, maybe five feet five inches, but with six inch high heels. Her sun bleached hair fell in loose waves down her back, and she was dressed in a tight mini skirt and a flowing black tank top that revealed a beautiful tanned belly and a glimpse of a swirling tattoo that was on the side of her rib cage.

"It wasn't nothing!" She almost yelled, and ran to Steve and gripped the front of his shirt. Without thinking, he reached down and kissed her. She pulled back, shocked. "I'm-" Steve started, but was interrupted when Camilla reached up and covered his lips with her own. "You want to get out of here?"

There was no talking in the cab on the way to his house. Instead, the two made out and groped each other like a couple of teenagers for the entire ride. When they arrived, there was only a short interruption when Steve paid the cabbie. They remained glued together until they were in the house. Clothes started getting ripped off in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs. Getting impatient, Steve picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist and he carried her to his room where he promptly dropped her on the bed.

When she woke, Camilla was confused – and then it all came back. She had left the bar with a stranger – a violent stranger who had punched a man. But he wasn't here now; she was all alone in the house. There was a note on the pillow, and she picked it up. It read, 'Got a call in to work. Help yourself to anything in the fridge. Coffee is in the pot. I had a really good time last night, and I hope you'll call me – XXX-XXX-XXXX.' She noticed that there was a full glass of water dripping with condensation on the bedside table and smiled.

Suddenly, there was a bang downstairs. Camilla sat for a moment, listening.

There was another crash, and the sound of glass breaking. She quickly threw on her clothes and bit her lip for a moment, deliberating what to do. Instinct told her to hide, and being that she only had the faintest idea of the set up of the house, she simply dropped to the floor and rolled under the bed. Moments later, Camilla could see black work boots walking in to the room and she willed herself to be invisible.

Suddenly, hands wrapped around her ankles and Camilla was pulled out from under the bed. "Now what do we have here?"

Steve was sitting at his desk working on some paperwork from the morning's case when he saw Kamekona walking in; he wasn't smiling, and after a moment it occurred to Steve that he looked a little panicked. He quickly walked out of his office to meet him. "What's going on? Are you okay?" He noticed that Kamekona was holding a package. "A guy gave this to me. Told me to deliver it to you. Said a girl's life depends on it."

Danny joined Steve at the table to open the package. After putting on gloves, he took the knife from his pocket and tore it open at the end. He slid the contents onto the table and looked at Danny. There was a single photo. It was a close up of a long, wickedly curved knife, and out of focus in the background was the silhouette of a woman tied to a chair. There was a note on the back of the photo, "Guess what comes next."


	2. Chapter 2

Camilla woke to a loud grinding sound. There was a pounding in her head and her vision was hazy. She blinked a couple times and meant to gingerly touch the back of her head. But her hands didn't follow her command. After a moment, Camilla realized that her hands were bound behind her back - quite tightly in fact. More alert now, she scanned the room. It was pretty dark, but there was a bright light coming from the opposite side. Standing in front of the light was a tall figure that seemed to be sharpening something on the grinder. She shivered in fear, and started to test her binds.

"Ah, awake are you?" Said the man, turning around. "Perhaps we should get started then."

"Who are you?" Camilla asked.

"It doesn't matter who I am. All that should matter to you is what I'm going to do to you."

The man walked to the wall across from Camilla and flicked on a very bright spotlight that nearly blinded her. She shut her eyes. "Please," She whispered. The man didn't respond, instead he began to roughly remove her clothes. She kicked out at him, and made contact. "Omph." The man said, and then his hands were no longer on her. "You're going to regret that." He said.

He was gone for about five minutes before he returned to tie her legs to the chair. Then he proceeded to remove the rest of her clothes while she struggled and screamed. "Scream all you want Missy, ain't nobody going to hear you."

~S

Steve stood for a moment, deliberating. The first question he'd asked Kamekona was if there'd been anything else. There wasn't. There was no demand, no number to call, no directions or anything of that nature. It was puzzling. Usually when someone sent evidence of a kidnapping it was accompanied by a demand. This one wasn't, which could only lead Steve to believe that there was more information to follow.

Kamekona had been in with a sketch artist, and the diagram that had been produced was generic; tall, white, and well-built. When Steve had tried to question Kamekona further, he'd quietly mumbled, "All haoles look the same to me."

"Do you want to go down to where the suspect was last seen?" asked Danny, fixing his stare on Steve. He considered for a moment before nodding and motioning for Danny to hand over the keys.

They were on the way to Kamekona's shrimp truck when there was an incoming call. "What's up Kono?" Steve asked, looking toward Danny with a foreboding look on his face.

"Hey guys, I think you're going to want to come back to HQ. We've received more correspondence from the picture guy." Steve pulled a 180 in the middle of the road. "We're on our way Kono." Danny said and then cut off the connection.

The next form of communication was a tape recording. It was addressed to Steve and had been delivered to the front door of HQ with no witnesses. The perp had avoided being recorded on any cameras, and Steve was starting to get really angry. "How is it that we've almost come into contact with this guy two times now, and we still have no concrete idea of what he looks like?" Steve asked.

"This guy is smart," Said Chin, "He knew where the cameras are, and he is nondescript enough that he probably couldn't be picked out of a line up."

"More bothersome to me," replied Danny, "Is that he still hasn't set out any demands. I mean, what does this guy want?"

"Maybe this isn't your everyday kidnapping," Said Steve, "Maybe this is some sort of power trip the guy has going on. He thinks he can do whatever he wants and he is taunting us." No one replied. "Put the tape on Kono."

The tape was audio only and for the first few minutes there was only a grinding sound. Then there was some muffled conversation for a few minutes. After that, the screaming started. Steve gripped the side of the table until his knuckles were white. The screaming went on for only about four minutes before it cut off and then the tape ended.

"Sounds like torture to me," Said Danny, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, and we're no closer to helping this girl." Replied Steve. "Kono, strip the tape and see if you can find any other noise that might help us. Chin, I want you to check local missing persons from the last week. Danny, you're with me."

Steve and Danny drove to Kamekona's shrimp shack and began questioning some of the customers. No one had seen anything suspicious and they were no closer to finding this man.

~C

Camilla could barely keep her eyes open. She was so tired. She didn't know how long she'd been with this man, but it seemed like ages. She had partially healed cuts and fresh ones that still oozed. She had bruises all over her body, in various stages of the healing process. A routine had been set, and she knew it well.

The man came twice a day; once to give her food and water, and once to inflict some sort of torture.

He had already given her food a couple of hours ago, and so when he returned, she knew that it was time for a beating. "Hello again." Said the man. He held a camera in his hands, and when she didn't respond he kicked her. She whimpered, but didn't scream – he liked it better when she screamed. The man set the camera on the table and then grabbed a knife. He approached her with a wide smile on his face and she made no motion to escape. The blade pressed against her thigh, and then he dragged it along with a slow steady motion. A single tear rolled down Camilla's cheek.

~S

Steve watched the video with a look of horror on his face. They had received no communication from the kidnapper in a month. They had picked apart the tape and the recording and come up empty-handed.

The video had come in the mail, and attached was a note that read: _Steve, I hope you know I did this just for you. _

The tape started by showing a naked woman curled up in the fetal position in the corner of a dark, dirty room. She was covered in cuts and bruises and looked very malnourished. Her body was covered in a mixture of dirt and blood. The camera was set down and a figure walked toward the woman. He grabbed her and threw her against the wall. She didn't resist and she didn't scream. When she fell to the ground, then man ran and kicked her in the side. She curled in pain, and the man grabbed her hair, dragging her to the middle of the room. She looked into the camera and it was then that Steve recognized the woman; her face, her hair, and her tattoo. It was Camilla. The woman he had slept with a month ago… right before this had all started.


End file.
